Sunday, December 29, 2013

Dreams can be a really bad thing

I've been kind of out of touch with the Internet for little bit now. I'm still checking email and posting things here and there to let people know I'm alive, but I'm really getting in to the fourth Unlucky in Love book. Things are really getting out of control and Zeus showing up in town is really not a good thing.

I think in the other three books I've adequately portrayed him as a deadbeat dad that really enjoyed the activity that usually created more children. Thankfully at some point in time he stopped being able to have children, but that hasn't really stopped him from still enjoying that act that causes them. We're down to two goddesses that haven't bonded with one of the gods and since the book is called Hermia in Love, you can kind of guess who he zeroes in on.

This book has a lot of back story on who Chrysaor and Hermia really are. Both put up fronts to cover details they aren't comfortable with about their lives and it has been fun dissecting who I want them to be. I always do a little bit of research on what Greek mythology says about my characters, but I love adding my own twist and I'm often surprised at how well parts of their backstories that I hadn't really read about work perfectly into my tales.

I've really been actually writing for only about a week and over 25,000 words makes me happy since I've at times felt blocked. I finished getting Rhea in Love published and had to sort through the ideas of where things should go. There had been a lot of things hinted at happening in the earlier books and with only two books left to go, I've had to find ways to make sure those things happen.

I'm happy to say that pretty much all of the hints have been covered now and I'm moving towards dealing with the aftermath of some of those things. It should make for a really interesting book and I've got a lot of the events that will make up the rest of the book already plotted out in my head, including the ending.

As far as the blog's title about dreams being bad, I had another fun book play out in my mind as I tried to decide whether I wanted to wake up or stay asleep this morning. It is actually more of a YA book and I took down some notes to make sure I didn't forget, but it's really hard not to start writing it. The characters seemed really interesting and the world is bound to be a fun place for me to visit.

It's really hard when ideas hit you like that. I'm committed to Hermia and Chrys right now though. When I've got their story all worked out, then I'll make the decision of whether the last deity couple gets my attention or rebellious teenage werewolves need to be put in their place. Then again, I have about five other book ideas written as notes and even have a couple of them started out and of course Avery is always there. I've been thinking a lot about her recently and have plans to take the five current books, with an addition of a sixth final one, and somehow work them into three books that hopefully takes all the things I've learned since I first wrote them and polishes them up to really good reads.

Until then, I'll be typing away on my netbook trying to figure out whether my idea for dealing with Zeus will actually be how things end up.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Learning to love a character you initially hate

I've mentioned that I didn't really like Miss Rhea in my books - don't know where that miss came from, but she probably made me type it - and there wasn't really a logical reason for the dislike. Whatever the reason, I ended up making her just a tad word that rhymes with witchy at times. I was afraid when it came to her turn for a book I'd carry over that attitude even from her perspective, but I think I was successful in making her more approachable. Oh yeah, I finished her book just the other day and have gone through the initial edit - way to bury the lead, huh.

One of the things you have to learn as a writer is putting yourself in each of your character's shoes. I learned a lot in Rhea's. Beside them being a bit of a tight fit, I learned it's hard to keep a positive attitude when you know you're meant to be with a guy and he keeps bringing his girlfriends over to meet you. Show me a woman that doesn't go a little bit nuts from that and I'll stand on my head for five minutes.

If you can't tell, trying to figure out why a character makes a certain decision is fast becoming one of my favorite things. In my early books, my characters had a part of me in them. Avery was pretty much me in a make believe reality and Nyx was me in a world where I didn't get in trouble for shooting people that disturbed me and didn't think my tongue would fall out for saying a curse word. The goddesses in Unlucky in Love are really the first characters that I don't draw totally off me, which has made my imagination grow to take on the new roles. It's been a lot of fun seeing how the new characters work and I can't wait to see how Hermia and Desma go.

I've got to run, lots of errands today, but I worked on the synopsis for Rhea last night and wanted to share it. This is what I've come up with...

Unlucky in Love is more than just a name of a dating service started by five friends. Until recently, it also accurately described each one of their personal lives. Whatever abilities the ladies have that ensure their clients find their perfect matches don’t work for them, so even after living for centuries they are still searching.

Unlike the rest of the goddesses in the group, Rhea has known love for as long as she can remember. It's never been reciprocated to the level she'd like, but she still believes one day her dreams will come true. As babies start popping out of her closest friends, Rhea starts wishing those dreams would be answered sooner rather than later.

Thad has always known how Rhea feels about him and has had a hard time trying to figure out what exactly to do about it. Most would think he didn't care for the goddess, but that is anything but the truth. Still recovering from a rough end to a long relationship, Thad wants to move forward and start a family of his own. Before he has a chance to float the idea by Rhea, an unexpected visitor shows up in town and things start spinning out of control. An incubus, a jealous ex and an unplanned trip to the Underworld all get in the way of Thad's plans and by the time the dust settles both Thad's and Rhea's worlds have been altered.